Matt Kemp tackles recovery, walkoff heroes

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I’m sure I wasn’t alone in wondering whether Matt Kemp would come charging out of the dugout Sunday the moment Dee Gordon delivered his game-winning hit, nor the only one petrified that he would reinjure his hamstring while wrestling Gordon to the ground. Indeed, Vin Scully seemed to share some of those fears.

Well, Kemp walked away unscathed (which is more than the shaving-creamed Gordon could say).  Given that, it seems like a good time to update his injury status. Here’s Alex Angert of MLB.com:

Manager Don Mattingly said Matt Kemp and Mark Ellis will travel with the Dodgers on the road this week, while Matt Guerrier, Ted Lilly, Justin Sellers and Javy Guerra will stay back with a trainer.

“They are doing a ton of baseball work,” Mattingly said about Kemp (strained left hamstring) and Ellis (left leg injury). “They are on the field taking batting practice now and they are able to do a lot more stuff on the field.”

He added Kemp seems to keep progressing and Ellis is doing really well. As for the players not traveling to Oakland, he said Sellers’ recovery from a bulging disc in his back is taking some time and Lilly (left shoulder inflammation) has been a process. However, Guerra (right knee inflammation) is doing well and Mattingly reaffirmed that he will travel to San Francisco next week. …

No word of when Kemp might start a minor-league rehabilitation assignment, so July would seem to remain the target.

Kemp, who is already eligible to come off the disabled list, has played 10 innings since May 13. The Dodgers are 23-12 (.657) when he starts and 19-13 (.593) when he doesn’t in 2012.

  • Anonymous

    From the previous topic, in Jon’s article:
    .
    >> Arguably, a decision made by White Sox rookie skipper Robin Ventura lost the game for Chicago.
    .
    Steve Rosenbloom of the Tribune agrees (video): http://www.chicagotribune.com/videogallery/70527765/Sports/Rosenbloom-Robin-Ventura-over-managed-the-White-Sox

    • Anonymous

      Maybe Ventura didn’t know the pitch count. Quintana had never thrown more than six innings in his entire big league career (all three months of it), so he figured 8 innings of shutout ball was already house money. 

      I’m not saying I agree with the decision, but I understand it.  I always prefer to let a guy who hasn’t given up a run continue until he falters. Unless you have Mariano Rivera in the pen, you don’t know whether a new guy is going to be as dominant as the guy who got you thus far.

  • http://www.dodgerthoughts.com/ Jon Weisman

    Stony Brook sure didn’t have a fairy-tale ending at the College World Series, losing 9-1 and 12-2. 

    • Anonymous

      Fairy tale endings in Omaha are the sole province of Fresno State.

  • foul tip

    LATd myself.  [Tradition must be upheld.]
                                                           
    This gives park factors a whole new meaning.  Couple snippets “snipped”:

    “In the National League, no park is tougher to score in than San Diego, with San Francisco even slightly harder on home-run hitters than Petco Park. Bodies of water are found near each park.”
    ———————–
    “You know you’re going to be playing a lot of low-scoring, close games,” Headley said. “You’ve got to out-execute the other team, with little margin for error. I don’t think that’s going to change any time soon. They’re not going to lure big-time free-agent hitters here.”

    For the sake of future Dodger offense, let’s hope he’s wrong.

    “Pitchers, conversely, should come running to San Diego — and the five other West Coast yards.”

    http://losangeles.dodgers.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120617&content_id=33487892&vkey=news_la&c_id=la.

    ————————————–
    Edit: in comments below the story, one refers to the marine layer as a sea-going chicken, Chicken of the Sea. Not bad wit for a Monday afternoon. ;-])

    • foul tip

       Another comment claims that Adrian Gonzalez did not hit a homer at Petco after 7 pm in 2010.

      • Anonymous

        From a cursory check, I found six night homers for Gonzalez at Petco. Including one hit off of the Dodgers inimitable Ramon Ortiz.

        • foul tip

           As best I recall the better (or juiced) version of Manny did not find Petco to be all that much a pitcher’s park.  Think he hit 2 HR in one game there, most likely at night.

          This message brought to you by your local better hitting through chemistry industry.

          Mention of an Ortiz brought to us by the Timmermann self-abuse society.  ;-])

        • Anonymous

          Do home runs hit against Ramon Ortiz even count as major league dingers?  

    • Anonymous

      Baseball-reference.com posts park factors.  And for those six on the West Coast…

      Ballparks: PetCo Park · Attendance: 852,613 (14th of 16)Park Factors  Over 100 favors batters, under 100 favors pitchers. 
      multi-year: Batting – 92, Pitching – 92 · one-year: Batting - 88, Pitching - 89

      Ballparks: AT&T Park · Attendance: 1,453,902 (3rd of 16)Park Factors  Over 100 favors batters, under 100 favors pitchers.
      multi-year: Batting – 90, Pitching – 90 · one-year: Batting - 83, Pitching - 82

      Ballparks: Dodger Stadium · Attendance: 1,435,804 (4th of 16)Park Factors  Over 100 favors batters, under 100 favors pitchers.
      multi-year: Batting – 96, Pitching – 96 · one-year: Batting - 93, Pitching - 92

      Ballparks: Angel Stadium of Anaheim · Attendance: 1,188,409 (5th of 14)Park Factors  Over 100 favors batters, under 100 favors pitchers.
      multi-year: Batting – 95, Pitching – 95 · one-year: Batting - 101, Pitching - 101

      Ballparks: The Coliseum · Attendance: 620,555 (13th of 14)Park Factors  Over 100 favors batters, under 100 favors pitchers.
      multi-year: Batting – 98, Pitching – 99 · one-year: Batting - 99, Pitching - 100

      Ballparks: Safeco Field · Attendance: 689,642 (10th of 14)Park Factors  Over 100 favors batters, under 100 favors pitchers.
      multi-year: Batting – 91, Pitching – 92 · one-year: Batting - 87, Pitching - 87

      Once you get away from the coast, you see stuff like…

      Ballparks: Coors Field · Attendance: 1,195,335 (7th of 16)Park Factors  Over 100 favors batters, under 100 favors pitchers.
      multi-year: Batting – 117, Pitching – 117 · one-year: Batting - 120, Pitching - 121

      • Anonymous

        I wonder how DS ranked before all that foul ground was turned into luxury seats?

        • Anonymous

          I don’t know, but the numbers for any given park are in comparison to other ballparks used at the same time.  Look back X number of years and some ballparks were configured differently and other ballparks were different from the ones which have been opened since then.

      • Anonymous

        What about other flyover states closer to sea level?  The distinction here seems to be how close the stadium is to the Pacific, with inland parks like Dodger and Angel Stadium a little more friendly to hitters than marine-layer-affected arenas like AT&T or Safeco.  

        • Anonymous

          >> What about other flyover states closer to sea level?

          Here are numbers for some other stadiums with a reputation as hitters’ or pitchers’ fields (sometimes both, depending on which way the wind is blowing):

          Ballparks: Wrigley Field · Attendance: 1,251,184 (5th of 16)
          Park Factors  Over 100 favors batters, under 100 favors pitchers. 
          multi-year: Batting – 100, Pitching – 101 · one-year: Batting - 100, Pitching - 101

          Ballparks: Miller Park · Attendance: 1,160,248 (6th of 16)
          Park Factors  Over 100 favors batters, under 100 favors pitchers. 
          multi-year: Batting – 104, Pitching – 104 · one-year: Batting - 106, Pitching - 107

          Ballparks: Citizens Bank Park · Attendance: 1,391,731 (1st of 16)
          Park Factors  Over 100 favors batters, under 100 favors pitchers. 
          multi-year: Batting – 101, Pitching – 99 · one-year: Batting - 93, Pitching - 93

          Ballparks: Fenway Park · Attendance: 1,238,819 (3rd of 14)
          Park Factors  Over 100 favors batters, under 100 favors pitchers. 
          multi-year: Batting – 104, Pitching – 103 · one-year: Batting - 102, Pitching - 101

          Ballparks: Yankee Stadium III · Attendance: 1,288,689 (2nd of 14)
          Park Factors  Over 100 favors batters, under 100 favors pitchers. 
          multi-year: Batting – 106, Pitching – 105 · one-year: Batting - 97, Pitching - 96

          Ballparks: Citi Field · Attendance: 926,583 (13th of 16)
          Park Factors  Over 100 favors batters, under 100 favors pitchers. 
          multi-year: Batting – 95, Pitching – 95 · one-year: Batting - 88, Pitching - 88

          Ballparks: Tropicana Field · Attendance: 717,426 (12th of 14)
          Park Factors  Over 100 favors batters, under 100 favors pitchers. 
          multi-year: Batting – 92, Pitching – 91 · one-year: Batting - 92, Pitching - 92

      • foul tip

         Attendance @ DS only 1.4 mil, 4th?  Didn’t know it fell off that much.

        Thanks to the previous carpetbagger who shall not be named, I suppose.

        • Anonymous

          Must be current

          • Anonymous

            Yes, that’s for the 2012 season to date.  The Dodgers are averaging 39,883 paid per game.  If they continue with that average through the end of the year, they’ll pull in 3,230,523 fans for the season.

        • Anonymous

          What effect does attendance have on scoring?  Does the heat of all those bodies make the ball jump?

          • Anonymous

            No, but the more interesting question is how much of a home field advantage there is in baseball.  Most analyses show that the home team wins 52-55 percent of the time.  Whether that’s because of psychological factors, or knowing the ballpark, or the strategy advantage of knowing how many you have to score in the bottom of the ninth and later innings… who knows.  (Incidentally, I believe that advantage percentage is lower than in the other major sports like football and basketball.)

          • Anonymous

            Read the book Scorecasting for the definitive explanation on home field advantage.  Or I’ll boil it down for you: umpires and referees may think they’re being neutral,but they unwittingly make calls that favor the home team to avoid being booed by the home crowd.  Seriously.  They break down the numbers and prove their point to my satisfaction, but you’ll have to read it yourself to verify.   It’s well worth the read, not only for this essay, but for the others in the book. Some were excerpted a year ago in Sports Illustrated. 

          • KT

            Except in yesterdays game SaMo ^_^

  • Anonymous

    If the Kendrys Morales injury didn’t stop the idiocy of gang-tackling the walkoff hero, what will?  I’m all for spontaneity and celebration, but why must winning hurt? 

    • Anonymous

      I couldn’t agree more. I’m all for these guys appreciating a never give up mentality, but how about acting like you’ve done it before. Seems these celebrations aren’t far from the ones that the Brewers used to do that so angered the Dodgers at the time.

      • Anonymous

        I agree too.  Hey, I think it’s great that the team gets excited and wants to celebrate!  But there are ways of doing so without pummeling each other and risking injury.  Hug the guy, pat him on the back.  But no gang-tackling.  It’s even worse that they’re still doing it after the Morales injury.  Gee whiz.  :(

        • Anonymous

          Or put him on your shoulders, the way they used to do with conquering heroes.  

          Kung Fu Panda was actually going to shaving cream pie Matt Cain after his perfecto until one of the TV producers physically stopped him from interrupting the interview.  I’m all for high jinks (are there low jinks?), but a perfect game is different.  Even a no-hitter is different. IMHO, no hits=no pie.  

          By that rule, Eugenio Velez never gets any pie.

          • Anonymous

            BTW, Justin Sellers told me that those shaving cream pies really burn the eyes!  Maybe they’re not such a good idea either…

          • KT

            They should stock whip cream in the dugout

          • Anonymous

            His truth-in-labeling nickname is Kung Fu Panza.

    • Anonymous

      Morales broke his leg when he jumped up in the air and then landed awkwardly on home plate. Nothing his teammates did could have changed that. BTW, he would look good in Dodger Blue next year!

      • http://www.twitter.com/ElJefedor Jeffrey Thomas III

        I was all for Morales playing in Dodger blue this year if the Angels had made him available after their gigantic acquisition, but he really hasn’t been that impressive yet. Watching him in the LA series I saw a slow overweight first baseman. Sure he has 5 more home runs than Loney, but with a lower OBP. Not to mention James never gets a chance to play anymore. This isn’t a defense of James Loney as I too am bothered with his continued under performance, but I think the Dodgers should look elsewhere for their 1B needs. Currently Morales is 1 for his last 16 and only hitting .200 in June.

  • Anonymous
  • Anonymous

    I continue to dislike interleague play, but tonight at least we can cheer unreservedly for the Anaheimers.

    • KT

      they are making a little comeback score now 4-3

  • Anonymous

    Gnatt Cain lost his perfect game and no-hitter on the third pitch to Trout, and his shutout on the third batter to Pujols.

  • foul tip

    RA Dickey now the 2nd pitcher in 24 years to throw back-to-back one-hitters, shutting out the O’s.  Only hit this time came from old friend Wilson Betemit, a clean single.

    Dickey set a career high for Ks at 13, topping the 12 he punched out in his previous one-hitter.   It was his 4th double-digit K game this season.  He has 71 Ks and only 6 walks over his last 7 starts.  His ERA fell to 2.00. He’s 11-1, the majors’ best.

    He even hit a single.

    http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/gameflash/2012/06/18/41488_recap.html?sct=hp_t2_a4&eref=sihp#ixzz1yCZ27UGK

    • Anonymous

      Can we get him in a pre-deadline trade?  :)

    • Anonymous

       And he’s a knuckleballer. That sort of command is remarkable.

  • foul tip

    In a picture under “More Baseball Coverage” at lower right of si.com’s MLB page, Joe Torre looks like the evil emperor from Star Wars.

    May the farce be with you.

    http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/?eref=sinav&sct=hp_nv_a

  • Anonymous

    Matt Cain is finding out pitching to the Angels is a little different than pitching to the ‘Stros.

  • Anonymous

    Aaron Hill has hit for the cycle tonight for Arizona against the Mariners.

    • Anonymous

      Did he single handedly have more total bases than the entire Mariner team?

      • Anonymous

        The Mariners had seven singles and two doubles to nose out Hill by one base.

        • Anonymous

          That’s an entire season’s worth of bases for Eugenio Velez. 

  • Anonymous

    So the Bums have the largest division lead in the NL, over a team, which will remain nameless, that has as many wins as the other two division leaders.  Not sure it means anything, just wanted to recognize it.

    • Anonymous

      It does mean something. Vinny was emphatic about it when he kept saying they remain 7 back, a few weeks ago. It’s his way of saying don’t discount them. At least in my opinion.

    • Anonymous

       It’s OK to gname the Gnats.

      • Anonymous

        I love the idea of an old-fashioned Dodgers-Giants pennant race occupying the next four months of 2012. 

        • Anonymous

           I love the idea of the Dodgers winning the season series, say, 14-4.

          • Anonymous

            As long as one of the 14 is the one that sends them to the playoffs.

  • Anonymous

    Tonight is the sixth attempt by the Dodgers this season to move 18 games above .500.  Sixth time is the charm?  :)

    • Anonymous

      TBLA has a nice write up on the A’s and basically they are horrible. Hopefully at some point this weekend we will reach that 18 game plateau.

  • Anonymous

    I’m waiting for the first joke about someone thinking that the Dodgers will sign Livan Hernandez. Although it shows how well the Braves regarded him that they released him right after one of their starters (Beachy) went down for the season.

    • Anonymous

       Once an innings eater, but the qualifier “innings” no longer applies.

    • foul tip

       There’s no doubt in my mind that it crossed Ned’s….and he may be mulling it over.

      Quick–anyone around LA advertising exorcism specials?  Maybe someone could spring for one for Ned.  Maybe the Padres would help.

      Just as long as the PVL demon isn’t traded for a worse one. 

      If we see Ned walking around with his head pivoting 360, we’ll know it didn’t go well.

      That could give a whole new meaning to not having your head on straight.

  • Anonymous

    RIP, Roger Jongewaard, a scout and player personnel director, who helped make three different #1 picks: Darryl Strawberry, Ken Griffey, and Alex Rodriguez.
    Jongewaard convinced the Mariners owner to pick Griffey instead of Mike Harkey.
    http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-roger-jongewaard-20120619-1,0,7510228.story 

    • Anonymous

      Pretty good eye for talent. I can’t recall Mike Harkey pitching for the Dodgers in 1997 – must have made a great impression.

  • foul tip

    RA Dickey, Renaissance Man, of sorts.  Good read.

    Excerpt from his new book (link in story) maybe a better one.  Also a link to an earlier profile of Dickey.  And one to a bit about Brian Baker, himself a Dickey-like story.

    Bring lunch, I guess.

    http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/jon_wertheim/06/19/r.a.dickey.mets/index.html?eref=sihp&sct=hp_t12_a0

  • http://www.dodgerthoughts.com/ Jon Weisman

     NPUT